Re “With Whom Do You Agree: Weissman or the ice Mayor?”
Through the dozen years I have known him, Vice Mayor Mehaul O’Leary, much in the news of the community lately, has resembled a political liberal, moderate, but mostly a nudge left of center.
But is he?
A timely question because, as he withdraws from the pub business, he is anticipating, more eagerly than he ever suspected, being elevated to mayor of Culver City in April.
A moderate liberal? He figuratively stroked his chin and supplied a definite indefinite answer.
“I really don’t know how I would be described politically,” Mr. O’Leary said.
“I mean, I am all about the environment. That would make me on the liberal end of things.
“I am about fiscal responsibility, which makes me more conservative.
“I don’t know. I am all over the place.”
Therefore, he logically concludes, “I don’t like to be placed in a box.”
And furthermore…
No one in Council Chambers was surprised last Monday evening when Mr. O’Leary became the only person on the dais to decline Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells’s invitation to sign City Hall onto an amicus brief accompanying President Obama’s gay marriage case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
A traditionalist in important strata of his life, the vice mayor stands apart from same-sex marriage, a lonely, brave stance for someone who might be labeled liberal.
Like most of us, he is a blend.
